Rural hospital in Tennessee closes

Ducktown in Polk County in Tennessee
(Wikipedia map)

Another rural hospital in a state that did not expand Medicaid has closed.

"The Copperhill and Ducktown communities in Tennessee are now without medical care as the rural area's only hospital, Copper Basin Medical Center, shut its doors for good Sunday. CEO Dan Johnson told local ABC News affiliate NewsChannel 9 that doctors had only been seeing about 10 patients a day in the emergency room, which is about one-third of what a hospital of that size needs to stay afloat," Jeff Lagasse reports for Healthcare Finance News.

"He said changes in health-care administration led to a gap in funding for the hospital, as well as less of a need. Yet the next closest facility is 15 miles away in [Georgia's] Fannin County, which means those in need of emergency care would likely need to be transported by helicopter. According to the Cleveland Daily Banner, the hospital had not been accepting new patients for some time, but had been providing inpatient and emergency services."

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has tried to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, citing the threat to Tennessee hospitals, but the Republican-controlled Legislature has refused.

The North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center at the University of North Carolina says 81 rural hospitals have closed since 2010. "Many more are struggling to stay open," Lagasse notes. "The implication is that the rural health safety net is unraveling; 41 percent of rural hospitals are operating at a negative margin, the data showed. Numerous factors impact these operating margins, including payer mix and the percentage of uninsured; allowable cost-based Medicare reimbursement; the employment rate and the related availability of employer-sponsored commercial insurance; payer-negotiated rates; the availability of primary care; and population health and health disparities."

Pa. and Md. districts among those awaiting Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear the Wisconsin case challenging the constitutionality of politically gerrymandered voting districts, other legal battles over redistricting continue, reports Michael Cooper of The New York Times.

Redistricting is "the once-a-decade process of drawing new election districts to reflect population changes — an event typically seized on by whichever party is in power to draw maps that favor its incumbents," Cooper notes. The Supreme Court has never struck down a voting map on the grounds that it benefited one political party over another, but the Wisconsin case offers a formula that courts could use to measure partisan skew. Here are some other states with election maps before the courts:

Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District
(New York Times map)

Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District:
"A Rorschach-test inkblot of a district that has been likened to 'Goofy Kicking Donald Duck,' this district meanders through five counties and is so narrow in parts that it is only the width of a restaurant in King of Prussia and of an endoscopy center in Coatesville, according to a lawsuit filed by voting rights activists last week," Cooper writes. "The suit, filed in state court, contends that Republican lawmakers crossed a line when they redrew congressional boundaries in 2011, creating a map that helped Republicans win control of 13 of the state’s 18 districts even though registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state."

Maryland's 6th Congressional District
(New York Times map)

Maryland's 6th Congressional District:
"Democrats in Maryland drew plenty of crazily shaped districts to help their party in 2011 — its Third District has been likened to a 'praying mantis' — but a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s last round of redistricting is focused on one: the Sixth District, which yoked Democratic voters from the Washington suburbs to Republican voters in the rural west of the state," Cooper explains. Michael Kimberly, the lawyer bringing the suit, said he had been watching the Wisconsin case. However, Kimberly said his suit was taking a somewhat different approach, arguing that the new Maryland map violated the First Amendment rights of voters.

"Several election lawyers said it was unclear how far-reaching a Supreme Court ruling in the Wisconsin case might be, given that other election maps are being challenged at federal and state levels using different legal arguments," Cooper notes.

Here's a simple explanation (the last example) of how gerrymandering can be used to give advantage to a party that doesn't deserve it. Click on the graphic to view a larger version.

Federal court orders N.C. to redraw GOP-friendly legislative districts and hold special elections

"A federal court on Tuesday ordered North Carolina to hold a special legislative election next year after 28 state House and Senate districts are redrawn to comply with a gerrymandering ruling," Colin Campbell reports for The News & Observer in Raleigh. "U.S. District Court judges earlier this year threw out the current legislative district map, ruling that 28 of them were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. They allowed the 2016 election to continue under the old maps, but ordered legislators to draw new districts in 2017." Some states—typically ones controlled by Republicans—have been accused of redrawing district maps to ensure that GOP candidates win races.

Legislators have until March 15 to redraw new maps, Campbell writes. "Every legislator whose district is altered will have their current term shortened. A primary would be held in late August or early September—the legislature is responsible for setting the exact date – with the general election in November, the order says."

State Republicans were critical of the decision, which they are appealing, Campbell report. Legislators said in a release: "This politically motivated decision, which would effectively undo the will of millions of North Carolinians just days after they cast their ballots, is a gross overreach that blatantly disregards the constitutional guarantee for voters to duly elect their legislators to biennial terms."

Number of farmers on state legislatures continues to decline; only 4.6% list occupation as agriculture

The number of farmers in state legislatures continues to decrease, giving the agricultural community fewer voices with firsthand farming experience, Jen Fifield reports for Stateline. Only 4.6 percent of state legislatures are farmers, down from 9.7 percent in 1976, according to a recent survey by Stateline and the National Conference of State Legislators. While the number of legislatures with farming backgrounds continues decreasing, the number with business backgrounds keeps increasing; 29.5 percent of legislators are business owners or are in accounting, insurance, real estate or other business fields.

While only one of Pennsylvania's 50 state senators are farmers, even more traditional agricultural states, like North Dakota, are seeing a decline in the number of legislators who are farmers, Fifield writes. Currently, 16 percent of North Dakota legislators are farmers, down from 42 percent in 1986. The main reason for the shift is migration, said Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.

The highest total is in Nebraska, where 22 percent list their occupation as farmer, according to the survey. In South Dakota, 17 percent of state legislatures are farmers; Montana and North Dakota, 16 percent; Iowa, 14 percent; and Idaho, 13 percent. In every other state, less than 10 percent of state legislatures are farmers. (NCSL graphic: Only 7 percent of Kansas legislatures are farmers. For an interactive version, click here)

Panel probing charges Ky. congressman used post to help his wife's animal-rights lobbying

On Friday the House Ethics Committee announced it has opened a formal investigation about Kentucky Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield's potential violations of lobbying rules and other laws, James R. Carroll writes for The Courier-Journal. The Ethics Committee established a four-member subcommittee, which will look into "allegations that (Whitfield) failed to prohibit lobbying contacts between his staff and his wife (Connie Harriman-Whitfiled), improperly used his official position for the beneficial interest of himself or his wife and dispensed special favors or privileges to either his wife, the Human Society Legislative Fund or the Humane Society of the United States," the panel's announcement said.

In a statement Whitfield said, "The allegation that my wife lobbied my office or my staff to convince me to introduce and pass the legislation is absurd. This is an issue I have followed for many years."

Since 2011, Whitfield's wife has been a registered lobbyist with the Humane Society Legislative Fund, a unite of the Humane Society of the U.S., Carroll writes. The report stated that there is substantial reason to believe that Whitfield not only allowed his wife to use his congressional office to assist her lobbing activities but also that he met with her and other lawmakers to talk about legislation she was working on. "In all, a dozen bills were involved, dealing with issues including the abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses, shutting down puppy mills and protecting the great apes," Carroll reports.

"Despite being on notice of the potential ethics issues, Representative Whitfield's staff continued to have contacts with Representative Whitfield's wife related to her lobbying," the board report said. However, Human Society President Wayne Pacelle said that more than 10 years before Whitfield's wife  became professionally involved with the Human Society, Congressman Whitfield was already a leader in animal welfare legislation, especially horse protection."

The investigative subcommittee will be chaired by Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, and also include Florida Rep. Ted Deutch, Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and John Carney, D-Del. (Read more)

Arkansas bill to record and review closed sessions dies after newspapers oppose revised version

A bill to require public agencies to record their closed sessions and have the recording reviewed by the local prosecutor has died in the Arkansas General Assembly. House Bill 1054 was withdrawn from consideration March 11 and referred to an interim study committee.

The Arkansas Press Association originally favored the bill, but opposed it after prosecutors had it changed so that they would not have to review any recording unless five people complained.

"The Coalition found this burdensome and likely would change nothing regarding the abuse of executive sessions by governing bodies, " APA Executive Director Tom Larimer reported in an email to The Rural Blog. "The real killer was when the bill's sponsor again amended the bill to allow attorneys to attend executive sessions," something prohibited by the state Freedom of Information Act.

"Executive sessions continue to be the most abused tool of governing bodies who prefer to conduct the public's business out if view of the public," Larimer wrote. "Any time a bill is filed to amend the executive sessions portion of the FOIA we become very concerned, and for good reason, I believe."

Court filing details how 'dark money' got a mining company what it wanted in Wisconsin

Not much is publicized about the behind the scenes lobbying that goes on during election season. "But a court filing recently made public by a federal appeals court in Chicago provides a rare look at how so-called 'dark money' groups helped one company get what it wanted," Theodroic Meyer reports for ProPublica. (ProPublica photo by Mark Hirsch: Wisconsin Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz was targeted by non-profit groups after voting against a mining bill.)

"When billionaire Chris Cline's company bought an option to mine a swath of northern Wisconsin in 2010, the company touted the project's potential to bring up to 700 well-paid jobs to a hard-pressed part of the state," Meyer writes. "But the Florida-based company wanted something in return for its estimated $1.5 billion investment—a change to Wisconsin law to speed up the iron mining permit process."

"So, Cline officials courted state legislators and hired lobbyists," Meyer writes. "And, unbeknownst to Wisconsin voters and lawmakers, the company waged a more covert campaign, secretly funding a nonprofit advocacy group that battered opponents of the legislation online and on the airwaves."

"Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on politics, hundreds of millions of dollars have flooded into the political system—much of it through nonprofit groups that have no legal obligation to identify their donors," Meyer writes. "In its push for a new state law, a Cline Group subsidiary gave $700,000 to a conservative nonprofit in 2011 and 2012. That group, in turn, donated almost $3 million in 2012 to a second, like-minded nonprofit that also campaigned to change the mine permit process, tax filings show."

"Both nonprofits worked to pass the mining bill," Meyer writes. "One helped to write the measure and launched a radio campaign even before it was introduced. The other tried to pressure a Republican holdout. Together, the two groups played a critical role in defeating a freshman Democratic state senator who'd voted against the bill, paving the way for its passage months later. "With the help of ads funded by the two groups, the GOP retook the state senate in 2012 and passed mining legislation similar to what the company had wanted."

"Neither nonprofit reported spending any money on politics on their 2012 tax returns, potentially violating Internal Revenue Service rules, experts said," Meyer writes. (Read more)

Interactive database gives some idea of partisanship and effectiveness of state legislators in 35 states

How partisan are your state legislators? How effective are they at attracting co-sponsors for their bills and passing them into law? If you live in one of the 35 states analyzed in new interactive charts by the Sunlight Foundation, you can get at least something of an idea. The charts are "a pretty good visualization of the increasing partisanship in state capitals," Niraj Chokshi of The Washington Post writes on the paper's GovBeat blog. Here's a screen grab of the Illinois House chart:

Each legislator is represented by a circle, and is plotted along a liberal-conservative spectrum from left to right. The vertical axis shows each legislator’s success at passing bills. To minimize the influence of what developer Thom Neale calls “theatrical bills” — the kind with little substance that serve as political messaging — he "assigned greater weight to bills that were subsequently signed by the governor into law," Chokshi reports. "The measure isn’t foolproof. Some state legislative staffers pushed back on his weighting system, and measuring impact is difficult. But, again, it shows relative effectiveness rates for each legislator." The size of each circle reflects how often colleagues so-sponsor a legislator's bills." In the interactive version, hover any circle for more information about each legislator.

As rural share of population declines, so does the rural voice in state legislatures

Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, is the only farmer
in the Colorado House. (AP photo by Brennan Linsley)

Rural lawmakers are in a shrinking minority in America, which presents a challenge for them to effectively communicate the needs of rural Americans, reports Steve Karnowski for The Associated Press. Rural lawmakers are struggling to get their peers to care about rural problems such as lack of broadband access and the plight of rural businesses. This disconnect is leading to the formation of rural caucuses in an attempt to give rural residents a louder voice.

"Lawmakers and political experts say the dwindling numbers of farmers, ranchers and others who make their living off the land affects not just agricultural policy but other rural concerns—highways, health care, schools and high-speed Internet access," Karnowski writes. "Urban and suburban lawmakers might be sympathetic, but they’re often unfamiliar with particular concerns." Rep. Bill Friend, a hog farmer who is the Republican floor leader in the Indiana House, told Karnowski: “They’re one, two, three generations removed from food production and agriculture. It’s kind of a foreign topic to them."

Tides are turning in states once strongly dominated by rural interests, Karnowski writes. "In ag-centric Nebraska, more than half of the legislators now come from the Omaha and Lincoln areas. Similarly, South Dakota’s legislators are bunched near Sioux Falls or Rapid City—only 11 of South Dakota’s 105 legislators as of last year were involved in agribusiness; in 1987, the figure was nearly three times higher."

Sen. John Sullivan (D-Ill.), the only active farmer in the state Senate said the agriculture committee’s chairman and other members lack agricultural backgrounds. "He expects a struggle to make the farming opinion heard as the chairman pushes legislation to require labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients," Karnowski writes. Sullivan told him, “It just makes it more difficult to explain and talk to my colleagues when they’re only hearing one side of it from opponents of GMO crops.” (Read more)

UPDATE, Feb. 26: The Daily Yonder says this story incorrectly "implies that rural and agriculture are the same thing," and points out, "Agriculture is but one part of the rural economy."

Colorado begins recall election of Democratic state senators who supported gun-control legislation

Colorado voters are turning out in large numbers to cast ballots in a recall election for a pair of Democratic senators who supported gun-control legislation. Nearly 4,000 people voted early Thursday in the recall election of Sen. John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo), Megan Schrader and Matt Steiner report for The Gazette in Colorado Springs. Election day is Tuesday, but voters can cast early ballots. (Gazette photo by Jerilee Bennett)

"Morse and Giron were targeted for recalls by the Basic Freedom Defense Fund after they supported gun legislation during the 2013 legislative session that later became law,"  The Gazette reports. A petition was launched, and received enough signatures to warrant a recall. After the bill was signed in March, gun supporters called for a national boycott of the state.

Sen. John Morse

The senators are drawing plenty of support from groups outside Colorado. A Denver Post review of the finance reports of 10 active issue committees involved in the recalls found that "Proponents of the recall have raised about $540,000, while opponents have collected nearly $3 million," Kurtis Lee and Zahira Torres report for the Post. Half of the money from those opposed to the recall came from out of state, while a large percentage of the money from those for the recall -- $368,000 -- came from outside Colorado. (Read more)

Sen. Angela Giron

There has been plenty of confusion revolving around the election, with some taking advantage of a new law that allows people to vote immediately after moving into a district. One such person is Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute, who "lives in Boulder, well outside Morse's district, but he said he intends to move into Senate District 11 and under the new law that is sufficient to allow him register and vote," The Gazette reports. (Read more)

Caldara's move has drawn the ire of Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has asked the state's attorney general "to look into what he calls a political stunt" and "Hickenlooper said in a statement Monday attempts to disrupt the election could result in criminal prosecution," The Associated Press reports. (Read more)

Illinois becomes 37th state to raise interstate speed limit to 70; big urban counties can opt out

Three months after the Illinois Legislature passed a bill that would raise the state's interstate speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph, Gov. Pat Quinn signed it into law Monday, Tom Kacich reports for the News-Gazette in the east-central part of the state. The bill, which also lowers the legal threshold excessive speeding from 31 mph to 26 mph over the limit, will go into effect Jan. 1. (Associated Press photo by Jeff Roberson: I-64 in O'Fallon, Ill.)

The law allows eight highly urban counties to set a lower limit. Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Urbana) told Kacich, "One of the reasons I felt comfortable voting for this bill was that it eliminates the counties that have really heavy traffic. That's one of the big safety issues, that if there is really heavy traffic they can opt out."

There are now 37 states with speed limits of 70 mph or higher: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. (Read more)

Alabama rural investigative unit is recovering stolen farm equipment and making arrests

Alabama is going after criminals targeting farms and farm equipment. The Agriculture Rural Crime Unit, formed June 4, has already made big headlines. By the end of June, the 10-member team had made 14 felony arrests and recovered $500,000 in stolen equipment, Brad Harper reports for the Montgomery Advertiser. (Advertiser photo: A recovered tractor)

Last month Republican Gov. Robert Bentley introduced the unit, which is part of a consolidated group of agents from the Department of Public Safety, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Department of Agriculture and Industries, Mike Cason of the Alabama Media Group calls it the state's "first example of a plan to consolidate law enforcement under a bill passed this year by the Legislature. The consolidation effort is one of the initiatives of the Republican-led Legislature to streamline government."

Lt. Gene Wiggins, head of the unit, told Cason that the unit is an assistance agency that collaborates "with sheriff’s offices and police departments to help them investigate cases, such as stolen farm equipment and stolen livestock." The state set up a hot line, 1-855-75-CRIME, to report suspicious activity that could be of interest to the team, but emergencies should still be reported to 911. (Read more)

Ohio and New Hampshire are latest states to raise speed limit on some interstates; Illinois still in limbo

Speed limits were raised from 65 mph to 70 on several stretches of interstates in Ohio on Monday, and the next day New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the state's first speed limit increase in 40 years, raising a stretch of highway from 65 to 70. Maine and Utah have also raised limits this year, and other states may do so, Governing magazine reports.

The Department of Transportation in Ohio put up 317 new signs Monday along 570 miles of highway alerting drivers to the change, Rick Armon reports for the Akron Beacon Journal. The limit on the Ohio Turnpike (green line on map) had been 70 since April 2011. (News-Herald photo, by Duncan Scott, and map)

Russ Rader, a senior vice president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and its Highway Loss Data Institute in Arlington, Va., told Armon, “It’s popular to raise speed limits. It gets people to their destinations faster but it doesn’t come without a cost. There will be more crashes and more deaths as a result of raising speed limits. Instead of raising speed limits, what states should be doing is vigorously enforcing the speed limits they have because speed is a major safety problem on the roads. If we could control speeding, we could have a significant impact on the death toll." (Read more)

Hassan said she decided to sign the New Hampshire bill because it received overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature and was limited to certain roads, Kevin Landrigan reports for The Telegraph, located in Nashua, in the southern part of the state.

"As of Jan. 1, the speed limit will be 70 mph for about an 80-mile stretch of I-93 north of Canterbury up to the border with Vermont," Landrigan reports. "Currently, motorists can drive up to 65 mph on this stretch of road. The only part of the route not covered by the increase is about 5 miles that go through the White Mountain National Forest and Franconia Notch, where the speed limit will remain 45."

The Illinois Legislature passed a bill in May that would raise the state's interstate speed limit to 70, from 65, but Gov. Pat Quinn still hasn't decided whether to sign or veto it. He can delay action until Aug. 19, which is 60 days from the date he received the bill. For the roundup from Governing, click here. (Thanks to Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune for information.)

Colorado gun-control bill leads gun-rights supporters to call for a hunter boycott of the state

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's decision to sign three gun-control laws has gun supporters calling for a national boycott of the state. The bills "limit ammunition magazines, require universal background checks, and charge gun buyers for the cost of those checks," Tyler Kingkade noted for the Huffington Post.

Boycotters hope hunters spend their money elsewhere to prove a point to the governor. Colorado has a "$1.8 billion hunting industry," Valerie Richardson reports for The Washington Times. "In 2012, 489,327 residents and 86,493 non- residents procured hunting licenses.

The boycott is already taking its toll on Colorado outfitters as hunters from around the nation call in to cancel reservations," Richardson writes. "More than 60 percent of the state’s hunting revenue comes from non-residents, who pay far more for licenses than residents." Chris Jurney, vice president of Colorado Outfitters Association, told Richardson: “We’re getting a flood of emails now that the bills have been signed into law from people who say they like hunting in Colorado, but that these bills go against their beliefs and they’re not coming back.”

Randy Hampton, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, sees things differently. He said his "department has been contacted by hunters concerned about the new gun control measures but insisted the bills would have no impact on hunting," Richardson writes. “We do get people who say, ‘We’re not coming to Colorado because of these gun laws,’” Hampton said. “But there is nothing in these bills that changes their ability to hunt and fish in Colorado. What this is is a protest against the state legislature.” (Read more)

Ohio legislature OKs higher rural speeds, including 60 mph on two-lane state roads outside towns

Drivers in Ohio would be able to legally drive 70 m.p.h. on rural stretches of interstates under a compromise approved Tuesday by state legislators. The speed limit also would be increased to 60 on two-lane state-numbered roads outside city and town limits, as part of a House-Senate conference committee’s version of a sweeping transportation bill, which is expected to win approval today in the Senate and Thursday in the House, reports Darrel Rowland of The Columbus Dispatch.

We wrote about this issue last week after the bill passed the Senate. The section of House Bill 51 dealing with two-lane roads is 4511.21(B)(9), available here. Here's an updated Dispatch map:

Mississippi, tops in obesity, OKs 'anti-Bloomberg' bill

Mississippi may appear to be pushing to keep its spot as the most obese state in the U.S. The state Legislature passed a bill which says that any law that might restrict what Mississippians eat or drink has to go through them — barring federal regulations, writes Kim Severson of the New York Times.

The bill prohibits local governments from enacting rules limiting soda size, salt content, shortening in cookies, toys in fast-food meals, how a menu is written or just about any other aspect of the daily dining experience in Mississippi, writes Severson.

The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Phil Byrant, is informally called the "anti-Bloomberg bill," in response to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal on food restrictions, which a judge struck down but is on appeal.

“I can’t defend what the statistics show about obesity,” said Sen. Tony Smith, who introduced the bill “But this is about personal responsibility. When I go out to eat with my three daughters they get waters. I don’t need the government to tell me to do that.”

The bill made the "Bizarre-O-Meter" of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, which opined, "The state faces dire education and health care problems. The economy’s a mess. So what’s one of the first new laws set to hit the books? A law protecting the sanctity of the Big Gulp, the Big Mac and the Twinkie."

Among Mississippians 18 and over, 68 percent are overweight and 34 percent are obese, according to a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control. The study also found that 18.3 percent of Mississippi adolescents are obese.

Telephone deregulation bills spark concern about reliability of rural communications in several states

The cell-phone boom has led many states to deregulate land-line phone providers, allowing them to drop the service, and similar legislation is pending in several states. Rural communities with poor cell reception could suffer price increases from the resulting lack of competition, as phone companies in deregulated states are no longer legally required to provide land-line service to all citizens.

Twenty states that have deregulated land-line service. Sherry Lichtenberg, telecommunications research and policy principal at the National Regulatory Research Institute, told The Rural Blog that deregulation legislation is also pending in eight states: Nevada, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana, Kentucky, New York and Rhode Island. She said a bill further deregulating telecommunications in Ohio failed last session, and bills in New Jersey and Connecticut were withdrawn.

Many of those resisting the change have expressed concern for rural customers; this trend held true in the most recent state to move forward with deregulation. On Monday, Kentucky's deregulation bill passed a committee in the Republican-controlled Senate, and is being supported with a radio advertising campaign, but "The bill faces an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled House," reports Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"The primary concern voiced by opponents Monday was that the changes would leave rural Kentuckians, particularly seniors, without reliable phone service," Don Weber reported for cable-TV news service cn|2.  Opponents said cell coverage in rural areas can be unreliable, and that the 80 percent of seniors who still use a land-line could be adversely affected.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, said his rural constituents' main telecommunications concern is lack of high-speed Internet service, and deregulation would allow telecom companies to invest more in broadband. He said the bill would ban ending landline service in rural areas with fewer than 5,000 landlines unless another company can offer a similar service.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/11/2512824/ky-senate-panel-approves-bill.html#storylink=cpy

Brammer reports, "Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, said the bill would allow carriers to stop serving areas where wireless services are available, which is not the same as a land line. Many parts of rural Kentucky have wireless service that is unreliable, he said." FitzGerald told the committee, "Even AT&T's own website says that it is not comparable to a land-line service." In an op-ed piece for The Courier-Journal he gave more details about the legalities of the measure.

Ky. legislative panel advances bill to allow, regulate industrial hemp crops if feds grant state a waiver

By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

After hearing endorsements from former CIA director James Woolsey and a bipartisan slice of Kentucky's congressional delegation, a state Senate committee today approved without dissent a bill to allow and regulate commercial hemp crops if the federal government gives the state a waiver from marijuana laws.

Eight other states have similar legislation, but some of them allow only experimental crops. Pro-hemp bills are pending in two of those states and five others, including Kentucky, Arian Campo-Flores reported Friday for The Wall Street Journal. (WSJ map; click on image for larger version)

The Kentucky bill's advocates hope to make the state a test bed for the return to the U.S. of commercial hemp, which Woolsey said is legal in 35 industrialized Western nations, including Canada. "We cannot find one that has had a problem distinguishing industrial hemp from marijuana," Woolsey told the Senate Agriculture Committee. He said he is a member of the North American Industrial Hemp Council "basically because of my interest in prosperity for rural America."

The bill, pushed by Republican state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, still faces obstacles, especially in the Democratic-controlled House, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has refused to give waivers for hemp production.

However, "The government interest in worrying about marijuana issues is subsiding some," said U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, who will ask the Obama administration for a waiver. Alluding to recent pro-marijuana legislation in some states, Yarmuth said at a press conference, "The overall climate of the country will make it much more easy for DEA to relax its policy on granting waivers."

Joining Yarmuth in endorsing Senate Bill 50 were Republican U.S. Sen Rand Paul, wearing a hemp shirt, and Rep. Thomas Massie of the Fourth District. They have each filed bills, with Oregon co-sponsors, to exclude from federal marijuana law any part of the hemp plant with 0.3 percent or less tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's psychoactive ingredient. For the House bill, click here.

From left: Massie, Brewer, Comer, Yarmuth, Paul (Ky. Dept. of Agriculture photo)

State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer (in first row of audience in photo) continued his firm opposition to SB 50, saying his main concern was that marijuana could be hidden in hemp crops.

Woolsey said pot growers would "have to be stupid or very high to take that route," because they could not prevent male plants from pollinating females, which stop producing THC-rich flower buds when pollinated. "The marijuana growers are about the last people who want industrial hemp," he said, because the fine pollen can travel far and even fertilize indoor crops. He also said hemp is harvested before marijuana.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer said Woolsey brought "a great deal of credibility" to the hearing because he had been "at the apex of deciding what is good and bad information" at the CIA.

Brewer also said parts of the hemp plant left not used in processing could be processed into a THC-rich oil, and Kentucky hemp could be used to cut high-THC marijuana from the West Coast. He said the state needs a pilot project to get beyond anecdotal evidence, not immediate commercialization. House Speaker Greg Stumbo has called for a study. Committee Chairman Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, the bill's sponsor, said that would be a waste of money.

At least two senators who were not expected to vote for the bill did so: newly elected Republicans Sara Beth Gregory of Monticello and Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville. "We have the potential to create jobs in rural Kentucky, especially," Gregory said in explaining her vote.

Westerfield, a former prosecutor who unseated a leading hemp supporter in the November election, said he "went all last year" thinking there was no difference in hemp and marijuana, then received conflicting information on both sides. He said he is still not certain, but thinks the state should try to take advantage of the opportunity "as long as we proceed with caution."

At a Capitol rotunda rally of hemp supporters after the meeting, Garrard County Attorney Mark Metcalf said he supports the bill because "It will bring industry that adds value to the crop."

State Rep. David Monson of North Dakota, a leading hemp advocate, told the committee that hemp is so bulky that its transportation costs are high, requiring processing plants to be relatively close to the fields. He and Gail Glenn, a farmer, said hemp is also a good rotation crop that fights pests and requires no herbicides or pesticides.

Over-the-counter drug makers start campaign to tell potential meth 'smurfers' the possible consequences

The lobby for makers of over-the-counter drugs, which has fought laws to tighten controls on sale of cold medicine that is used to make methamphetamine, is starting a public-education campaign to discourage evasion of the system that tracks purchases of pseudoephedrine. The targeted states are Kentucky and Alabama, which could be key to preventing passage of laws like the one in Mississippi, which requires a prescription for pseudoephedrine.

The Consumer Products Healthcare Association rolled out the campaign in Alabama last month. It joined with the Kentucky Pharmacists Association and the Kentucky Retail Federation yesterday to announce the program in Kentucky, and won the blessing of its primary adversary in the state's legislative battle, Senate Republican Leader Robert Stivers of Manchester.

Stivers, who is in line to become Senate president, was asked if the drug makers' move signaled a truce in the battle. He indicated that he would wait to see the impact of this year's law, which reduced the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be bought during one a month, before trying to tighten it. "Let's look at the history and see what happens," he said. Earlier, he said: "I appreciate the fact that they're coming here in a very conciliatory way, a very open way, to say we all know there is a problem."

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said the success of the law depends on educating the public: "As laws are passed, criminals adapt and find new ways of getting around them." Preventing that is the goal of CHPA's "Anti-Smurfing Campaign," named for the practice of meth makers using others, "smurfs," to buy pseudoephedrine for them. Beshear noted that the new law makes smurfing a felony, and said the posters are "designed to make smurfers think twice" and "think of the moral and criminal consequences of their actions." He told cn|2 Politics, "I think will be a good deterrent in this situation."

CHPA's director of state government affairs, Carlos Gutiérrez, said the posters were tested in 2011 with focus groups of Kentuckians and strike a balance of educating potential smurfers without alarming law-abiding buyers of pseudoephedrine. The campaign's website is here. (Read more from Kentucky Health News)

After battle between doctors and cops, Ky. passes bill to crack down on prescription drug abuse

A man gets arrested at a pain clinic in Lexington.
(By Charles Bertram, Lexington Herald-Leader)

The Kentucky legislature passed a bill today to crack down on prescription drug abuse, a national epidemic that began in Central Appalachia. There was national attention to the battle in the General Assembly between law enforcement officials and doctors who said they were trying to protect patient privacy.

"Kentucky is ground zero of the effort to move prescription-drug monitoring programs out of the health-care arena into law enforcement," said Even Jenkins, executive director of the West Virginia State Medical Association, a physicians' trade group and a Democratic state senator, told Timothy Martin of The Wall Street Journal.

The doctors won in West Virginia, and they largely won in Kentucky, because the final version of the bill did not move the state's prescription-monitoring system to the attorney general's office from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the doctor-controlled Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure. But it will require doctors who prescribe painkillers to use the system; only 25 percent do now. For more details on the bill, from Tara Kaprowy of Kentucky Health News, go here.

"The struggle over the Kentucky bill highlights the complicated path policy makers and law enforcement are traversing nationwide in their attempts to fight abuse of prescription painkillers," Martin reports. "Unlike importers and dealers of illicit drugs such as cocaine, the supply chain for prescription drugs is made up largely of legitimate businesses and professionals."

Legislative pushes in Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and other states have been met with fierce opposition from physician and pharmacy lobbies, Martin writes. About 48 states have legislation requiring prescription drug-monitoring programs. That's up by 16 from 10 years ago, but restrictions for who can access the data varies by state, Martin reports. Kentucky law enforcement officials have complained they cannot access the data in time to single out problem prescribers. (Read more)